What I DID Do

     Do you ever get to the end of the day or to the beginning of another and think...."Oh man, I wish I had gotten x, y, and z (or maybe it's like l, m, n, o, p, q, r and s!) done?

     I do that to myself ALL the time.

I just woke up this morning, fifteen minutes ago, with that little red guy on my shoulder...you know the one from the cartoons that whispers the "bad" thoughts into your ear...

I know, it seems I'm blogging a lot about productivity and its importance (or not!) lately. I just can't help to continuously be surprised that ever since becoming a real "adult" there is so much to do!

Real adulthood can be associated with many things, things like age (eventually you have to grow up), buying a house (oh heavens there is ALWAYS something to do own a house/condo),
having/keeping a full-time job, or having kids (this was the kicker for me!).

However and whenever real adulthood presents itself to you, you start to realize that your parents just may have been right after all...that as bad as your hair and clothes were, as many pimples as you had, and as many boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend break-up issues you may have been dealing with that inevitably those were some of the easiest days of your life.

I can still hear my father's voice in my head: "Life only gets harder...grrr...grrrr...grrr".

Well Thanks for that little pick me up Dad! 


Anyways, I hate to be all gloomy and say it gets harder, I'll just say it gets more complicated. Right?

So, I'm here to offer a suggestion today...it's what I tried to do this morning to get that pesky little red guy off of my shoulder. Perhaps you've guessed it already...

Count the things you DID do yesterday! 

 Most of us are not lazy, miserable, slouches who sit on the couch all day eating potato chips and wishing our lottery ticket would be a winner so that we could just hire someone to do all the things that we don't want to do (although I do like potato chips...a lot! and I do sometimes think Wouldn't it be nice to have a maid, and a chef, a personal shopper (grocery and other!), a personal trainer, and...alright, I'll stop there!).

Most of us are trying the best we can to make life work with what we have; time, energy, resources.

In the spirit of counting what I DID do yesterday I've written a list (not that we need to compare lists...(ladies!!!), but perhaps my list will trigger your own mental list and hopefully we can all move forward a little more contentedly.

1. Got the girls up and dressed.
2. Made breakfast for the girls.
3. Make breakfast for myself
4. Feed all who are hungry
5. Get Ava to school
6. Get pulled over and handed a speeding ticket on the way (yes...sadly, this did happen...it's a long annoying story...I'll spare you the details!)
7. Return water bottle with chipping paint for husband
8. Pick up a few groceries with a 2 year old in tow
9. Take said 2 year old to music class
10. Pick up 4 year old from preschool
11. Bring  kids home, make them lunch
12. tend to boo boos because 2 year old feel in driveway while I was making lunch
13. put lunch on table
14. Tend to boo boos because 2 year old bumps elbow on something while putting lunch on table
15. Clean up lunch
16. Play with girls in back yard
17. Pull old lettuce and weeds from garden
18. Pick green beans, peas, beets and leftover tomatoes from garden
19. Put 2 year old down for nap
20. Close my eyes while 4 year old wiggles next to me "reading" books and asks a question ever 7 minutes.
21. Sort/Organize Coupons
22. Spend time with 4 year old putting a family photo album together
23. Wake up 2 year old, make soup and salad for everyone for dinner
24. Get all of Ava's swim stuff together.
25. Take Ava to swimming
26. Bring Ava home, put her in shower (her lips were blue!).
26 1/2: fold and put laundry away while she is in the shower
27. Dry her hair, help her get dressed
28. Take her for walk at 7:30 to see lit Halloween decorations (she'd been asking all day!)
29. Bring her home, give her a snack, and sit with her while she watches Dora Halloween show
30. Put her to bed (story, prayers, tickles)
31. Put a little bit more laundry away
32. Clean up kitchen
33. Go down into the basement and continue sorting clothes and papers (started this project over the weekend)

34.  Husband gets home with 2 year old (they were at church)-- say "hello and goodnight"

35. Crash on couch because I cannot move any longer...

Wow...that feels SO much better than the alternate list I was making in my head this morning. 

Stop and make your own "Did DO" list today. It will help you to feel more like the better parents/adult that you actually are. 

This is the day the Lord has made, Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24